


Helpless

by Neptunium134



Series: Lansteban Hamilton (kinda) [1]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Dorks in Love, Falling In Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Song: Helpless (Hamilton), Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-12-07 01:55:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18228338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neptunium134/pseuds/Neptunium134
Summary: 2017, 1 week before the Australian Grand Prix.And Lance still didn’t know anyone outside of Williams.But one night could change it all.(Happens before "Burn" and it's pure, tooth-rotting fluff. Two dorks in love)





	Helpless

**Author's Note:**

> https://youtu.be/6frd_dHxPRs
> 
>  
> 
> Esteban has a house in New York, mostly beacuse I couldn't be bothered to change the final lyrics of the song so use your imagination and pretend he lives in NY.
> 
> (Lance still lives in Canada)

_Ooh, I do, I do, I do_

_Hey-ey-ey_

_Ooh, I do, I do, I doo_

 

It was the week before testing in Australia, and Lance found himself cowering next to Felipe as the Brazilian pulled him into the hotel's ballroom.

 

While he was old enough to drink, Lance couldn’t think of anything worse than being stuck in a room of people possibly twice his age drinking alcohol and not knowing **_any_ ** of them.

 

Felipe left him at the door and headed over to Fernando while Lance slid silently into a corner.

 

Valtteri Bottas grabbed his arm and pulled the Canadian over to his new teammate, Lewis Hamilton.

 

Okay, Lance knew _**one**_ person in a sea of many.

 

Lewis smiled at him, acknowledging his presence as the two Mercedes drivers started to talk about the upcoming season.

 

Lance slipped away from the two and caught sight of Felipe, talking to Nico Hulkenberg.

 

Sergio Perez walked, a tall, tanned man around Lance’s age behind him.

 

_Boy, you got me helpless-_

_Look into your eyes_

_And the sky’s the limit_

 

The man’s eyes met Lance’s, and they sparkled like they held a thousand stars.

 

Lance felt his face heat up and looked away quickly, making his way over to Felipe and Nico.

 

_I'm helpless-_

_Down for the count and_

_I'm drowning in them_

 

Nico grinned at Lance, saying something about the young ones being the easiest to sway.

 

_I have never been one to try and grab the spotlight,_

_We were at a revel with some drivers on a hot night._

_Laughin’ at Felipe as he's dazzlin’ the room_

_Then you walked in and my heart went_

_BOOM!_

 

Lance laughed as Felipe joked around with some friends, watching from his corner as the man followed Sergio around, occasionally shaking hands with people and making small talk.

 

_Tryina catch your eye from the side of the ballroom_

_Everybody's dancin’ and the band's top volume_

 

Lance hopelessly tried to catch the man’s eye, but he stubbornly refused to look at Lance.

 

The Canadian bit his lip, having given up on putting himself in the man’s eyeline and walked over to Felipe.

 

_Grind to the rhythm_

_As we wine and dine_

_Grab Felipe and whisper_

 

“ _Yo, this one's mine_.”

 

Lance pointed to the man. Felipe gave him a look and headed over, moving past Sergio to talk to his new teammate.

 

_Felipe makes his way across the room to you_

_And I got nervous, thinking_

_‘What's he gonna do?’_

_He takes your hand and I'm thinkin’_

_‘I'm through’_

 

Lance watched Felipe make his way to the man, feeling betrayed when the Brazilian grabbed his hand.

He knew Lance was interested, was this a Paddock joke, going after your teammate’s crushes?

He began to panic, what if Felipe went after him on purpose? He didn’t even know the man’s name, how would he live with that?

 

_Then you look back at me, and suddenly I'm…_

_Helpless!_

_Oh, look at those eyes (Look into your eyes, and the sky's the limit)_ _  
_ _Oh! Yeah, I'm helpless, I know  
_ _(Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em)_

 

The man turned to look at Lance  ** _finally-_ ** and instantly Lance started to blush furiously.

 

_I'm so into you, I am so into you_

_(Look into your eyes, and the sky's the limit)_

_(I'm helpless!)_

_I know I'm down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em_

 

He watched as Felipe continued to talk with the man, whose brown eyes were trained on Lance’s fire-engine-red face.

 

Felipe grabbed the man’s hand and dragged him towards where Lance was standing.

 

“ _Where are you taking me?_ ” The brown-eyed stranger asked, raising an eyebrow at the Brazilian.

 

“ _I'm about to change your life_.” Felipe patted his chest

 

“ _T_ _hen by all means, lead the way_.”

 

They came to a stop in front of a still-heavily blushing Lance.

 

The Canadian quickly composed himself, hold his hand out for a handshake.

 

“ _Lance Stroll, it's a pleasure to meet you_.”

 

The man cocked an eyebrow a Felipe.

 

“ _Stroll_?"

 

“ _My teammate_.” Felipe shrugged.

 

“ _Congrats on all your achievements.”_

The man shook Lance's hand.

 

“ _If it takes getting into Formula One for us to meet, it will have been worth it.”_

 

 _ **That**_ did not help, and Lance's face once again flushed red.

 

“ _I_ _’ll leave you to it!_ ” Felipe patted Lance’s back and scurried off somewhere, leaving Lance with an incredibly hot stranger whose name he **_still_ **didn't know and whom he had only spoken two sentences to, one of which being his own name.

 

Surprisingly, Lance's shyness didn’t deter the man- who eventually introduced himself as Esteban Ocon- and the two actually enjoyed the evening.

 

It wasn't like Esteban knew anyone other than Sergio anyway, so having someone his around own age was rather nice (and Esteban secretly thought Lance’s shyness was rather cute).

 

_One week later-_

 

Lance pulled his helmet on. There were minutes before the race and boy was he nervous.

 

He had qualied 19th the day before, but an unscheduled gearbox change earned him a five-place grid penalty which moved him all the way back…

 

One space.

 

One single space.

 

He sighed, knowing it was going to be one **_hell_ ** of a fight and he could only hope he'd rise through the grid, maybe like five places or something?

 

Should be easy.

 

But the world seemed to hate him and on lap 40 his brakes decided to, well…

 

Break.

 

He was frustrated, yes, his first F1 race cut short by over ten laps, but he knew it was part of racing. You get in the car, drive, hope the mechanics have done their jobs and the car isn't going to break or blow up.

 

He also knew he couldn’t blame the mechanics. Sometimes brakes stopped working for a multitude of reasons, and driving over the gravel and chicane probably didn't help it.

 

The Canadian sighed and pulled off his helmet and head mask and place them on the table in his driver room. The gloves were next and he was leaning down to unlace his racing shoes when a piece of paper caught his eye.

 

It was a letter.

 

From Esteban, no less.

 

The race was still going on outside, but as Lance read the letter, the world went silent.

 

That night, in his hotel room, Lance Stroll penned a letter back to Esteban Ocon, letting in on his crush a bit more but leaving out details.

 

That was second-base territory.

 

 _I'm writin' a letter nightly_ _  
_ _Now my life gets better, every letter that you write me_

 

Felipe caught onto the letter-writing between the two as he read one of Esteban’s letters over Lance’s shoulder.

 

_Laughin' at Felipe, 'cause he wants to form a harem-_

 

“ _I_ _'m just sayin', if you really loved me, you would share him_.” Felipe grinned and Lance blushed.

 

“ _Ha!_ ”

 

_Two weeks later-_

 

Esteban was definitely the bolder of the two, and was currently talking to Claire about the possibility of a relationship between the two.

 

 _In the living room stressin'_ _  
_ _Claire’s stone-faced while you're asking for her blessin'_

 

Lance bit his lip and sank further into his seat, trying to appear as invisible as possible.

 

 _I'm dying inside, as you wine and dine_ _  
_ _And I'm tryin' not to cry 'cause there's nothing that your mind can't do_

 

Claire gave him a look and he instantly sat up straight in his chair, resting his face in his palms as she turned her attention back to the Force India driver who looked ready to beg on his knees.

 

She stood up, startling both Esteban and Lance.

 

 _Claire makes her way across the room to you_ _  
_ _I panic for a second, thinking,  
__‘We're through’  
__But then she shakes your hand and says, ‘Be true’  
And you turn back to me smiling,_  
_And I'm…_

 

Esteban grinned and grabbed Lance’s hand, pulling him out of Claire’s office and towards the Canadian’s driver room for some privacy.

 

 _Helpless!_  
_(Look into your eyes, and the sky's the limit-)_  
_I'm helpless, hoo_  
_(Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em)_

 _Helpless!  
_ _That boy is mine, that boy is mine!  
_ _(Look into your eyes, and the sky's the limit, I'm-)  
_ _Helpless!_  
_Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em!_

 

The two sat down on the sofa in Lance’s room and Esteban grabbed his hands.

 

“ _Lance, I don’t have a dollar to my name_  
_An acre of land, a troop to command, a dollop of fame_  
_All I have’s my honour, a tolerance for pain_ _  
A couple of college credits and my top-notch brain-_ ”

 

Lance gave a small snort.

 

“ _Insane! Your team brings out a different side of me_ _  
_ _Felipe confides in me, Paul tried to take a bite of me…_ ”

 

(To be perfectly honest, Lance had almost forgotten Paul existed. They had only spoken once and Lance rarely saw him around)

  
“ _No stress, my love for you is never in doubt_  
_We’ll get a little place in Harlem and we’ll figure it out_  
_I’ve been livin’ without a family since I was a child_  
_My father left, my mother died, I grew up buckwild_  
_But I’ll never forget my mother’s face, that was real_  
_And long as I’m alive, Lance, swear to God_  
 _You’ll never feel so…_ ”

 

It wasn't long before most of the Paddock knew, news travelled quickly amongst the rather bored drivers as there was not enough race gossip as of yet.

 

_Helpless!_

" _I_ _do, I do, I do, I do!_ "

  
" _Lance-_ "

  
_Helpless!_

 _  
_ " _I do, I do, I do, I do!_ "

 

" _I_ _'ve never felt so-_ "

 

Lance couldn’t deny it- he was absolutely love-struck with Esteban. His increased heart rate, heavy breathing, the butterflies in his stomach, the blushing all confirmed it.

 

He was certainly  
_Helpless!_

  
_Hey, yeah, yeah!_  
_Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em_  
_I'm down for the count, I'm—_

 _  
_ " _Helpless!_ "

 

Sergio questioned Esteban’s choice of partner, not knowing much about the Canadian apart from what Esteban was willing to share (which was quite a lot, it was hard to get the Frenchman to shut up about him sometimes).

 

“ _My life’s gonna be fine cuz Lance is in it_.”

Was one of Esteban’s answers.

 

_Helpless!_

" _I look into your eyes and the sky's the limit, I'm—_ "

  
_Helpless!_ _  
Down for the count and I'm drownin' in 'em._

 

Even a year later, when Esteban proposed to Lance, they were still helpless for each other.

 

 _In New York, you can be a new man…_  
_In New York, you can be a new man…_ _  
In New York, you can be a new man…_

 

The two shared a kiss in the snowy wonderland Esteban has proposed in, their breath mingling in the freezing air.

 

“ _Helpless_ …”

**Author's Note:**

> Wowhee.
> 
> I realised I've not posted since Christmas time-ish (I think), and since I had some time (and access to Hamilton) I decided to write another one-shot based on Hamilton!
> 
> This time, two dorks in love, tooth-rotting fluff and Esteban’s not a dick! Yay!
> 
> And Lance is still an adorable Cinnamon Stroll who deserves all the love in the world
> 
> Hissssssssssss


End file.
